Cubans to Quarterfinals in 8th Santo Domingo Badminton Open

The Santo Domingo Badminton Open will run until next Friday at Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center

Cuban athletes Osleni Guerrero, Leodanis Martinez and Taimara Oropeza won in the first two rounds and advanced to quarterfinals of the 8th Santo Domingo Badminton Open, which runs until next Friday at Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.

Guerrero, sixth seed of the contest, defeated English Rory Easton 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) and Guatemalan Christopher A. Martinez 2-1 (21-11, 19-21, 21-12) and today will face Italian Rosario Maddaloni (1st seed), whom he beat 2-0 last March in the final of the Giraldilla de la Habana tournament.

Martinez won over Dominicans Reimi Cabrera 2-0 (21-10, 21-17) and Therry Aquino 2-0 (21-9, 21-9) and today will have a very tough opponent in Guatemalan Kevin Cordon, Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015 Pan-American champion, to whom he lost a month ago in the Guatemala Open.

Meanwhile, in the women´s individual event, Oropeza (4) won by forfeit over the local Fanny Duarte and then beat 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) American Isabel Rusli and her rival in this stage will be the also American Jamie Hsu.

In the mixed double event, Guerrero and Adriana Ortiz debuting with an easy 2-0 (21-5, 21-7) win over Dominicans Ariel Cine and Walkiris Cesar, and today will rival with another local duet.

The only two Cuban losses went to Ortiz and Ernesto Reyes, in the women´s and men´s individual events respectively, who lost to American Isabel Zhong and Canadian Timothy Chiu, in that order.

Furthermore, Martinez and Oropeza got a bye into the second round in the mixed ouble, as it happened to Guerrero and Martinez in the men´s double event.

Maykel Moreno, Cuban head coach, told ACN that from November 15 to 18, Guerrero, Martinez and Oropeza will compete in the 11th International Tournament of Suriname, last foreign participation of Cuban badminton this year.

“Before that, we will attend a training camp from Novemeber 10 to 14 in Paramaribo, capital of that South American country, at the invitation of the Pan American Badminton Confederation,” Moreno said.